5 hottest mobile games stories: Mark Pincus on scale, Stanga Games raises $500,000, and Clash Royale's Olympic spirit
Having built one of the biggest games empires in the US during they heyday of Facebook's browser-based gaming years, Mark Pincus has a thing or two to say about growing a company.
His opinion on building up a large and successful company matters, so it's no surprise that our transcription of his recent Slush 2017 talk on the issue was our most read article of last week.
The second hottest article of the week was little-known developer Stanga Games raising $500,000 to fund studio growth and marketing for its mobile game Underworld Football Manager, which you may just be hearing more about over the next year.
Clash Royale, M&A and Strange Quest
On Sunday, December 3rd Supercell hosted its biggest Clash Royale tournament yet. Beforehand, we caught up with the team for a special interview on how one of mobile's most famous developers is channelling the Olympic spirit for its Crown Championship finale.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the last week is the merger of the Stillfront group, which owns a number of games companies, and Germany's Goodgame Studios.
Also hot last week was the news that a team of ex-King staff raised $2.2 million for a new studio called Strange Quest.
Click the link below to find out more about the stories that caught our reader's eye during last week.
#5: Ex-King staff raise $2.2 million for new Swedish studio Strange Quest
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Ex-King staff raise $2.2 million for new Swedish studio Strange Quest »A group of former King employees have opened a brand new studio in Sweden called Strange Quest.
Backed by a seed investment round of some $2.2 million, the start-up is set to focus on creating multiplayer action games for mobile devices.
”Strange Quest aims to innovate and break new ground in the mobile games market,” said Strange Quest CEO Adam Schaub.
“We are convinced that there is an enormous future potential for synchronous multiplayer games on mobile and by creating frictionless products and combining them with innovative marketing strategies we intend to prove that thesis.”
#4: Stillfront acquires Hamburg-based strategy game developer Goodgame Studios for $318 million
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Stillfront acquires Hamburg-based strategy game developer Goodgame Studios for $318 million »After years of spectacular growth, German developer Goodgame Studios had a tough time last year, problems that led to hundreds of job losses.
2017 has seen the company get back on track and last week there was the surprise news that the firm has merged with developer collective Stillfront Group.
The 'acquisition' was worth $318.4 million, but sees the Goodgame owners take a 36.5% holding in Stillfront.
"This is a consequent step towards our long-term vision of creating one of the world's leading gaming companies," said Goodgame CEO Kai Wawrzinek.
#3: How Supercell's Clash Royale Crown Championship World Finals is channelling the Olympic spirit
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How Supercell's Clash Royale Crown Championship World Finals is channelling the Olympic spirit »Supercell hosted its biggest Clash Royale esports tournament yet on December 3rd with the World Finals of the Crown Championships taking place at The Copper Box Arena in London's Olympic Park.
It was a fitting setting for one of the world's most popular games, with players from around the world competing to claim the title as the best Clash Royale player in the world.
Just before the World Finals kicked off, we caught up with Supercell's esports maestro Tim Ebner to discuss just what goes into making such a big event happen.
“I like to think we're channelling some of that Olympic spirit because we are bringing the best players in the world here to compete and find out who is the best,” said Ebner.
#2: Underworld Football Manager dev Stanga Games raises $500,000
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Underworld Football Manager dev Stanga Games raises $500,000 »Former Social Point and Taptica exec Adam Jaffe took over mobile games developer Stanga Games as CEO earlier this year in order to grow the company.
To that end, he's just secured a $500,000 funding round to expand the team and invest in a new marketing push.
The company's operations centres on successful football game Underworld Football Manager and now it's ready to take the next step.
"We see being able to achieve profitability next year and this $500,000 gets us way beyond that point," said Jaffe.
"The idea is with the growth of the product, as we continue to improve it, this $500,000 allows us to scale and achieve profitability."
#1: "F**k scale": Mark Pincus explains why a focus on product was integral to Zynga's endurance
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"F**k scale": Mark Pincus explains why a focus on product was integral to Zynga's endurance »Former Zynga CEO Mark Pincus was recently interviewed on stage at Slush 2017 in Helsinki and he had a lot to say about growing a company.
Specifically, "f**k scale" was one of his more audacious remarks from our fully transcribed interview.
He explained that as a company gets bigger, it can start focusing on things like scaling rather than product improvement.
"What I want to do is make sure that the product is right," he said.
"People say micro-management is a terrible thing, but if you’re at a McDonald's you don’t care how many people they are serving, you just want a good experience."